Welfare Reform Bill

I am sure that the eloquent and moving speeches we have heard today will cause my noble friend the Minister to think very hard indeed. I accept the need for a change in the name of the benefit. ““Personal independence payment”” is wrong for all the reasons that have been advocated. However, there is a problem. This is a totally new benefit for disabled people, but I believe that having ““allowance”” in its name is a mistake as it is too close to ““disability living allowance””. While listening to the arguments today, I came up with my own preferred formulation—““personal disability costs payment””. It is all of those things, and it is a payment. When my noble friend thinks about these issues—I am sure that he will not give us a plus or minus answer today; at least, I jolly well hope not—I hope that he will consider that suggestion.